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“Turaga Nuju, we have the Akaku.”

Nuju turned from the Wall of Destiny to see Pirihi, Moana and Kaiwera standing triumphantly before him. Matoro appeared out of the shadows beside Nuju, making Moana jump in surprise.

“<Good luck, young Tohunga. Your next destination should be Po-Koro, but be wary. No-one has been able to make contact with the Po-Koronans for a number of days.>”

“Thank you Turaga, we will head for Po-Wahi,” said Pirihi.

Once again, they left the Sanctum. The Po-Wahi highway was just a little way outside the entrance to Ko-Koro. It was simply a huge tunnel in the side of a glacier, leading all the way though to Po-Wahi. Thousands of bios long, the Ko-Koronans had dug half and left the rest to the Po-Koronans. Now the tunnel was complete, and tracks from various carts going to and from Ko-Wahi had left deep furrows in the ice. Pirihi looked at the long scars, then pulled the longsword he had found in the Ice Temple off his back. Kaiwera and Moana watched with interest. Pirihi swung the sword round, and pointed it at the broken ice. Very slowly, the ice smoothed itself over, the sword dimly glowing blue. When the ice was as smooth as a mirror, Pirihi changed the angle of the sword and the ice lost it’s smooth surface for a rough one.

“Road’s fixed,” he grinned.

“Very impressive Pirihi! Well done, I don’t think I have that kind of control over water yet… Where did you learn how to use your ice powers?”

“Right here, just now. I just thought about the ice being smooth… and it sort of, just was. It’s hard to explain. You’ll know the feeling when you try it,” he cooed.

“I thought we were going to Po-Wahi? At this rate I’m going to loose my toes,” complained Kaiwera, stamping his feet to keep them warm.

Pirihi just flashed him a grin, and walked into the tunnel. Moana rolled her eyes at him, and set off after Pirihi. Kaiwera followed, and found the ground to be very stable and non-slippery. Curse Pirihi, the show off. Kaiwera wrenched his firesword off his back and pointed it at the floor. He concentrated with all his might, but the ice remained intact. Only the heat from his cheeks did any harm at all to the floor, which glistened at him reproachfully. Kaiwera scuffed it with his foot, and continued down the tunnel.

Kaiwera caught up with the other two, and for about half a day all they did was walk, only stopping to eat some of the Ice Lilies. As they neared Po-Wahi, the ice began to change to rock, and the temperature began to rise. Kaiwera became more and more cheerful, eventually taking off his furs and tying them to his backpack. The more happy Kaiwera became, the more moody and snappy Pirihi was. The heat had the opposite effect on him, making him irritable and weak. Finally, he could take no more.

“Kaiwera, can I have your furs, please!”

“What?”

“Your furs, I need them to stay cool. Please, I am very weak.”

“Oh I see, so, now, as soon as Mr Ko-Koronan needs help he becomes all polite and desperate? Well, you know what? That’s tooo baaad!”

“Kaiwera turned away from Pirihi and down the tunnel. He carried on walking, then stopped. Then fumed. Then he threw the furs back down the tunnel.

“There! Have them!” he cried.

Pirihi took the furs gently, and strapped himself into them. They worked magnificently, the opposite way to how they had kept the cold out for Kaiwera, they kept the cold in for Pirihi.

He felt stronger already, and walked with bigger strides. Moana smiled at the two of them. So alike, though they’d never admit it.

Eventually light could be seen at the end of the tunnel, and the Chosen emerged squinting into the heat and dry air of Po-Wahi.

Kaiwera stood proud and took a deep breath of desert air.

“Oh… yeah. A Tohunga can really… breath, out here.”

“There’s a path. Do we follow it?” asked Moana.

“I guess so, that’s where the cart tracks go, and all the carts go to Po-Koro.”

The Chosen set off along the dusty track, the sun beating down on their backs. The path led them to the lined Tohunga heads of the entrance to Po-Koro. The Chosen entered Po-Koro, to find themselves on the outskirts of a huge market place. The noise coming for the stalls was incredible, Tohunga were shouting and haggling, Mukau were snorting, Husi were clucking and there was the backdrop of the constant hammering of stone.

“Moana,” Kaiwera said. Moana didn’t turn round, so he tapped her on the shoulder. “We’ll meet back at the entrance at sunset, OK?!” he shouted into her ear. She nodded at him, and then told Pirihi. Kaiwera began to walk along the line of stalls, looking at the lines of merchandise. There were fish from Ga-Koro, the smell of which was overpowering. There were lightstones and candles made in Onu-Koro, as well as some lanterns. A stall for cups, pans and bowls was owned by a loud mouthed Le-Koronan, who was shouting offers on his products over the heads of the crowd. A tiny stall with a Ko-Koronan sitting behind it was selling furs and snow shoes.

“Hey,” Kaiwera said, “I know you, I bought some furs from you.”

The Ko-Koronan nodded.

“So… business, good”

The Ko-Koronan shook his head.

“Hmm… I guess furs aren’t the thing people need right now are they?”

The Ko-Koronan said nothing, and continued his blank stare at Kaiwera. Feeling uncomfortable under the gaze, he moved on to the next stall, which was selling things from all over Mata Nui.

“I know who this one belongs to,” Kaiwera chuckled. He looked up, and in a high chair with a megaphone Okoth was sitting, selling out her wares. He walked up to the chair and shook it a bit, Okoth looked down in rage, but then laughed when she saw it was Kaiwera. She jumped down.

“So, you made it then Chosen of Fire?”

“I am here am I not?” he said.

“Yep, you are. Your quest is going well I take it? Sword still in one piece?”

Kaiwera sat on the edge of the stall, and told Okoth about his adventure in Ko-Koro. The sun was setting when the tale came to an end.

“And then, I used my Hau to roast the Muaka to mush, and saved Moana from the Nui-Rama and then rescued Pirihi from the bottom of the ravine. I was pretty tired, I can tell you!”

“Uh-huh. Oh, would you look at the time, sunset already. Anyway, I have something for you.” Okoth reached under the stall, and brought out a mahogany box.

“This is where I keep all the special merchandise. I traded this for you today, I hope you will find it useful.”

Kaiwera took the strange object from Okoth. It was round and had a plate in the top which was sealed with a clasp. Kaiwera undid the clasp, opened the plate and looked inside. A wave of pure heat hit him in the face, he smiled in the heat waves, then closed the plate again.

“Thank you. An advanced heat stone?”

“Yep, I thought you might need it if you ever visit Ko-Koro again, though it seems I may have given it to you too late,” she sighed.

“Well, thank you anyway. This might save my life, you know.”

Okoth smiled, and began to close up the stall. On the way back to the entrance to the village, Kaiwera saw there was one stall still open, with Po-Koronans swarming round it, offering up barter and struggling to get whatever was on the stall. Kaiwera watched as a small Po-Koronan emerged from between the legs of the others, clutching a rounded stone. Intrigued, Kaiwera shunted his way to the front of the throng.

“Stall seller, what is this merchandise?” he asked.

The haggling stopped, and the stall fell silent. Then, one by one, the Po-Koronan began to laugh, escalating into a fit of giggles.

The black Rau’ed Tohunga behind the counter leaned forward and said,

“They’re the new Comet Koli Balls, I thought everyone knew that!”

Kaiwera turned and stomped towards the tunnel. “Stupid Koli balls,” he thought.

It turned out the other Chosen were in a similar mood. As Kaiwera approached Pirihi and Moana, she stormed up to him.

“Do you know what happened? I went up to that stall where they’re selling those stupid Koli balls, and asked what they were, and suddenly all the Po-Koronans started laughing at me! How rude is that!”

“Yeah, I know, the same thing just happened to me,” said Kaiwera, “What’s so special about some silly Koli balls? You could just as easily find some round rocks in the quarry.”

“The ones the Tohunga wearing the black Rau are selling are streamlined, apparently aerodynamically shaped so that they fly through the air longer whilst playing,” explained Pirihi.

“How did you find that out?” asked Moana.

“I asked the stall seller.”

“Did they laugh at you?”

“No.”

“Well why the hell not!? They laughed at us!”

“I have no idea. It’s getting cold, you two should get inside. There’s an inn over by the Koli field, the rates are cheap.”

“Your not coming with us?” asked Kaiwera.

“No, I want to stay up tonight in the cold air and search around the town, see if I can find anything out about who the Stone Chosen might be.”

“Oh well, see you in the morning then Pirihi,” said Kaiwera cheerfully.

“Goodnight Kaiwera,” said Pirihi icily, “Goodnight Moana,” he said with more warmth.

He turned and walked towards one of the huts, which were made of a strange stone, battered by the sands so that they were smooth but pitted.

“Well, looks like we’re on our own again tonight Moana,” said Kaiwera.

“Yep.”

“Might not be very much room in the inn, might have to share the same room.”

“Yes…?”

The inn was packed, there was only one bed left, out on the landing of the top floor.

“Well I’m having it!” shouted Moana.

“No! Your not the one who’s recovering from Ice-Illness!”

“Your over it you wossey, your just tired!”

The two Chosen eventually agreed to share the bed, Kaiwera sleeping with his feet towards the headboard.

“Night Moana.”

“Night Kaiwera. If your going to share this bed with me, I don’t want any funny stuff. No snuggling up or anything like that.”

“Don’ worry, there won’t be,” he yawned, too tired to argue.

The figures were back round him. The tall one brought back his sword. One of the crowd began the slow run towards him. The towering figure’s sword began it’s swing. Kaiwera looked round at the figures around him, they were clearer than before. Some of them were lying on the floor, on the snow, he could see it was snow. They were lying… and they wouldn’t get up. He could see the blood pooling around four of the bodies, turning the snow pink. Kaiwera felt angry all of sudden, frustrated he couldn’t save the dead. He turned back to the big figure, and jumped in shock of the detail that was now visible. It’s mask was thin, like a skull. It was white, like bone. The figures arms and legs were very thin also, capped at the shoulders in tarnished silver. The figure was grinning, leering at him, baring it’s white teeth. There was something fuzzy right in front of his eyes… it was a sword, unstoppable, heading for his face-

Kaiwera wrenched himself out of the dream, and flung himself into Moana’s arms.

“Kaiwera! What happened? I heard you moaning and I got up to see if you were OK... Did you have a nightmare?”

“I… sword… sharp… Oh Moana, it was horrible. If I dream it again, I might die... No… I can’t go back to sleep! I just… can’t…”

Kaiwera fell silent, shuddering. Moana gently sat down with him on the bed, and wrapped the covers around them.

“Do you want to tell me what you saw?” she asked quietly.

Kaiwera nodded, slowly, and began to tell her. When he had finished, she looked at him in shock and hugged him to her.

“I’ve been having the dream for a while now, and every time I had it I dreamt more and in more detail… I can just feel that the next time, I’ll be hit by the sword… I don’t know if I’ll wake up! It was so… real…”

“Aww, poor baby. You can’t avoid sleep you know. We need you to be vitalised so your in peak performance for the quest.”

“I guess… but if you hear me moaning again, wake me, wake me quickly! I don’t want to feel that sword…” Kaiwera was silent once more, squeezing Moana’s hand.

Moana put her arms around him, and slowly rocked him back and forth. She muttered a song she used to sing to put herself to sleep.

“There will be light in the morning, there is darkness now,
We have worked hard all day, rest is what we need,
Let the calm waters watch over me, as I take my bow,
And now until morning, I’ll sleep on the reed.”

Pirihi strolled into the inn. He had had little luck finding the stone Chosen, all the Tohunga has said that it must be the Comet Ball seller, as he was so good at making Koli balls. Pirihi doubted this, and would visit Turaga Onewa as soon as he had fetched the others. The first rays of light from the sun twinkled through the tunnel entrance, lighting up the frost covered ground. The innkeeper wasn’t up yet, so Pirihi quietly checked the stone tablet to see which room Moana and Kaiwera were sleeping in.

“Land 3”

Land 3? What on Mata Nui did that mean? Pirihi decided to test out his Akaku, and walked through the inn, searching inside the rooms for his comrades. Finally he spotted them lying together in a bed on the landing. Pirihi walked towards them slowly… there was no doubt about it, they were sharing the same bed. Despondently, Pirihi whispered in Moana’s ear.

She stirred, and her amber eyes flickered open. She looked down at Kaiwera, then up at Pirihi, and then blushed.

“Oh- Pirihi it’s not what you think, he had-“

“It’s OK, I understand.”

“No, really, it’s not like that-“

Kaiwera woke up.

“What? What’s the noise? ‘Eh? Pirihi! Moana! Ah! Erm…” he too blushed.

Pirihi turned and stood at the top of the stairs with his back to them.

“What should we say?” Kaiwera asked.

“I don’t know. Leave it, he wouldn’t listen,” Moana said.

When they had gathered their belongings, Pirihi told them about seeing Onewa.

“Good idea, he’s sure to know something about the Stone Chosen isn’t he?” said Moana.

The village elders hut was situated at the back of the village, with more domes than the other huts. Inside, most of one of the walls was carved into a giant Kakama, down to tiny scratches and chips. Onewa was sitting in the middle of the room, apparently meditating.

“Turaga Onewa…?” ventured Moana.

Onewa cocked his head to look at them, and mumbled something.

“Sorry? I didn’t catch that…” Moana said.

Very quietly, Onewa said,

“Traitor… quarry…”

“Turaga are you alright?” said Kaiwera, but Onewa gave no response and refused to say anything else.

The Chosen stepped out of the hut. The sun was visible over the walls of the village now, and all was quiet.

“Something is very, very wrong here. There should be all kinds of noise coming from the marketplace by now,” said Moana.

A figure lurched out from behind a hut. Moana ran towards it.

“Excuse me? What’s happened? Is something wrong?”

The figure stopped, and turned round. A Po-Koronan with a Kakama looked at them, in the same kind of trance as Onewa. Kaiwera noticed green tints on the edges of his mask.

The figure spoke.

“...Makuta... Rebels... DESTROY!” he cried, and drew a disk off his back, preparing to throw it at Moana. Kaiwera ran forwards and tackled the Tohunga, who fell to the floor stiffly, then suddenly started struggling.

“Wa? Woah... what happened? Who are you? Why am I on the ground?” he said.

The trance like state had obviously disappeared, the Po-Koronan was looking at Kaiwera in real confusion.

“I’m Kaiwera, this is Moana and he’s Pirihi. What is going on round here? Why did you try to attack Moana?” he asked.

“I didn’t… did I? I’m Huki…”

“Oh, Maku's, uh, boyfriend?” said Moana.

“Heh, yeah that's me. I don't know what is happening... Last I remember, I was going to the market for a new Koli ball late last night, and then boom! Everything went black!”

“I suggest that we leave here quickly. The whole village stinks of evil. We should look for the quarry, Onewa mentioned it,” said Pirihi.

“What?” said Huki.

“This town, it feels... 'wrong'. I can't explain it in any other way, but it's just evil all around... But anyway, Pirihi is right. Let's go and find the quarry. What do you want to do, Huki? Want to come with us?” asked Kaiwera.

“Nah, I'm gonna spy around a bit and see if I can find anything interesting. The quarry is on the second left out of the village, just follow the Path of Prophesies and you can’t miss it! Thanks for waking me guys!” he said, and then picked himself up and ran into the village.

“Well, that’s where we need to go. What do you think we’ll find there guys?” asked Moana.

The two boys looked at each other, then looked away.

“Pirihi… Kaiwera, I… He was just feeling down, I was comforting him when I guess we both fell asleep. Nothing happened.”

Pirihi continued to look at the ground, then started a slow walk towards the exit of the village.

The quarry was easy to find, it’s giant mass could be seen over most of the desert. There was a huge archway over the entrance, made out of stone with a jagged pattern of blue and dark red rocks in it. Inside, there were six statues of the six Toa’s masks, an Akaku, Kaukau, Miru, Hau, Kakama and Pakari, all carved 20 bios tall, in perfect proportion.

“The Po-Koronans sure know how to carve don’t they…” said Pirihi, the first thing he had said since they had left Po-Koro.

“Yeap. Well, where do we look? There are six masks… they all have doorways in them. This ones sealed,” said Kaiwera, pushing against the Miru’s door. The other doors were all sealed too.

“Hey! On the Kakama there’s a hole in the door for something. Looks like it might need a key to open it. Oh great, back to Po-Koro?” said Moana.

“What shape is the hole?” asked Pirihi.

“Square.”

“This might work then,” he said, and slotted a square shaped symbol into the hole. The doorway grated along it’s framework and opened to reveal a long passage down into the rock.

“Well done!” said Moana, jumping on Pirihi with a hug.

Kaiwera took out his lantern and shone it down the tunnel.

“Steps,” he said, “there’s footprints of some kind in the grit.”

“Guess we must follow,” said Moana doubtfully. The Chosen entered the Kakama.